Does the truth always set you free?

No. Sometimes it screws you over. Depends on the situation.
Edit:I’ll clean that up a little.

The truth should be freeing in a lot of cases for sure. Not sure how you can live in the “real” world without knowing the truth about things.

That’s especially true in the case of something that needs to be “fixed”. You can’t fix it, if you don’t face it.

Living in ignorance might be a “bandaid”, but that’s probably going to only be a short term fix or help. Eventually, you’ll have to deal with whatever it is .. or it will deal with you.

The truth might hurt to begin with… but that will only give you the impetus to find a solution .. and that’s a good thing.

Not always. Even if I know a truth about something, usually I still have to do something about it after lol.

All I can say is that in my experiences yes, the truth does set you free. This often means not just getting the truth from another but the truth that is revealed and therefore liberating when one comes out of denial, and fully awakens to truth.

I prefer the truth, no matter how painful to living a lie, within and without. ;-)
I’d rather know I had 6 months to live and prepare accordingly than to just drop dead with no advance warning. lol

Probably freer than lies will.

Leave it to Gail for the succinct answer. :-)

@Coloma: Now, tell me whether you like the hat I am wearing.

Truth can be kind of a slippery concept. Sometimes it’s more important to be practical or to be kind than to be right.

@Coloma In the case where one’s “ego” is not strong enough to cope with the truth, what then?
Hypothetically speaking, if my truth were to shatter my world and I am unable to contribute to society in a way in which I was previously able to, would it not be better for me to live under “pleasing illusions”?

@gailcalled I can’t see the hat you’re wearing but I’m sure I would like it, it cannot be a pointy dunce cap that’s for sure. lol

@stardust I think we’re all much stronger than we think we are. True, some might go down and never come up again, but I think, most of the time, it is true that what doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger. :-)

@Coloma Thanks :-) This question stemmed from a paper I’ve just written, the conclusion of which is rather bleak.
I’m not so sure that I agree that we’re all so resilient. So many of us live our lives without unearthing our truth

@stardust That is true. :-)
Also, our truths can change, so there really is no ultimate truth, only relative truth.
I guess the only ultimate truth is death and taxes. lol

Truth can be devastating if you live a life of denial or partial fantasy: Finding out what is your ‘true’ diagnosis at the doctor’s office; learning that your talent, whatever it is, is not going to take you where you wanted to go; seeing the truth about a relationship you valued. Freedom is not always a virtue without pain.

I skipped all the above answers, so if this duplicates, sorry. Truth can set you free, but free for what? The freedom to make your own decisions can be a difficult responsibility. Having the freedom to make your own choices doesn’t make those choices easier to make. Knowing the truth about a situation doesn’t always make it possible to leave the situation.

Not always. Sometimes telling someone else the truth about something that isn’t really that important for them to know (meaning if you didn’t tell them about being adopted, or that their long time ago former boyfriend cheated on them with another friend that they they no longer have contact with now, or telling someone that they look fat or ugly or that they’re implorably boring or a terrible cook) could be extremely hurtful or embarrassing to the other person.

Also, I have learned that telling the truth to an HR person at work, especially if it puts someone in a higher position than you in a bad light, even if they clearly did commit a crime/fraud/sexual harassment/safety violations and you have proof, is likely to get YOU fired, not the perpetrator of the ugly deeds. The reason being, is that the company knows that it’s easier to simply fire a lower paid, lower status person, even if they have proof of a higher ups wrong doings, because it’s not likely that the lower status person can afford to retain an attorney and doesn’t have the time to pursue legal action if they’re busy looking for new work. And being a whistle blower tends to get you blacklisted, not looked upon as a person of integrity. Just watch 60 Minutes every now and then.

Some people have to go through the classic stages of grieving before they can adapt to the truth: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Others aren’t able to handle the truth very well, usually because of something called “continuity bias,” which is thinking that because things have been this way for a long time, that they will continue to be this way. This is a type of denial. Those people will have major problems coping with significant change.

In the sense that you are liberated from the bondage of untruth and deception, yes.